Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I crawled into bed with her at night like a puppy begging for attention, ignoring the way she stiffened up each time until finally falling into an exhausted sleep.
Kate was the most forgiving person I’d ever met, and I felt nauseous when I remembered all the times she should have cut me from her life.
“What are you doing?” Rachel giggled as I rubbed my lips over her neck.
We were a few yards back from the bonfire the boys and I had built on the back edge of the property. For the first time in over a year, all of the Harris and Evans kids were home from various military bases and school, and we’d decided to celebrate with beer and a fire.
“Kissing you,” I murmured, running my lips up her jaw. Shit, she was the hottest girl I’d ever seen, and I’d been fantasizing about getting into her pants since she’d arrived with Kate two days before. They’d been damn near connected at the hip until tonight, and as soon as Kate had run back to the house for their sweatshirts, I’d pounced.
“I thought you and Kate—” she murmured in protest, but completely contradicted herself by dropping her head back to give me better access to her neck.
“What about me and Kate?” I asked distractedly as I saw Anita and Kate coming through the trees. I was going to be pissed as hell if Katie had been telling this girl a bunch of lies.
“She talks about you all the time,” Rachel said as I slid my hands down to her ass. “I thought maybe—”
I cut off her words as Kate and Anita reached the tree line a few feet from us. “There’s nothing between Kate and me,” I said against her mouth as Kate came to an abrupt stop and our eyes met. “She has a thing for me, but I’ve never been into her.”
I pressed my lips against Rachel’s, moaning when she slid her tongue into my mouth. My eyes never left Kate’s—even as she stopped Anita from storming toward us.
Kate moved toward the fire with tears rolling down her face, and I closed my eyes relishing the way Rachel’s hips had started rolling against mine.
As far as I knew, Kate had never said a bad word to Rachel about me. Within six months, I’d talked Rachel into moving to San Diego with me, and a few months after that we’d gotten married. I’d ignored Kate when she’d moved down after us—a little worried that she’d come for me—but she’d never said a word. After the first couple of years, my wariness had turned to apathy, and the fact that Kate seemed to hang out with Rachel whenever I wasn’t around had no longer bothered me.
If she’d planned on telling Rachel what a dick I’d been, I’d assumed she would have before the wedding.
I’d ignored her presence in our lives for years, tuned out every conversation when Rachel had tried to mention her, and pretended like she didn’t even exist.
Looking back, I couldn’t fathom how I’d done it. Kate fucking lit up a room. She was so happy and just fucking fun. I wasn’t sure how I’d ignored her for so long.
I tried really hard not to compare her and Rachel. That wasn’t a fair thing to do—but I couldn’t help but notice the differences between the women.
Where Rachel was reserved, Kate was outgoing. Where Rachel was willing to sit with the kids through a Disney movie, Kate was there with snacks and all the makings of a blanket fort. Rachel never told me if something was wrong, instead preferring to work shit out herself or completely distance herself from me until I figured out what I’d done wrong and fixed it. Kate told me straight out if something was bothering her, and then moved on, almost too quickly for me to rectify anything.
What little relationship I had with Kate was so incredibly different from what I had with Rachel that I had a hard time keeping up. Kate just kept coming back. I loved that about her. She was so tenacious when she cared about someone.
I also hated that about her. I hated that I’d been such a fucking dick, and I hated that she’d let me.
For the past couple of nights when I’d lain down beside her, after she’d fallen asleep and I knew she couldn’t hear me, I’d promised her that she’d never have to forgive me again if she could do it one last time.
I finally finished my run and walked the last quarter mile back to our house. Oddly, Miles’s Jeep was parked in my driveway.
“I’m home,” I called out as I opened the front door. I walked through the house when no one answered and found Kate and Miles sitting at the patio table laughing and watching the kids play.